mango

This is a bit out of the blue with the Mango news, but it looks like Microsoft has launched a new service called "Scrapbook" that utilizes the Windows Phone Live checkins (found on Mango phones, so we guess it does tie in). Brought to our attention by Long Zheng of iStartedSomething, what happens is your checkins are saved to this digital Scrapbook which is just Bing Maps with your history saved--you click on a number and it zooms over to where it was, getting the location info, a picture and anything else associated with that entry.

And yes, you can even delete your checkins, which is good because when I did the one above two weeks ago, I didn't get the location correct. Overall, it's a pretty simple yet smart tie in from Microsoft and for some odd reason, we expect a mobile app to appear any moment...

Pimp my Ringtones is a collection of twenty-one ringtones that can be saved to your Windows Phone. They range from the cute Pikachu ringtone to the R-Rated Samual Jackson ringtone. You also have Yoda making an appearance as well as a rather unnerving ringtone entitled "A very funny ringtone".

You can preview the tunes and when you settle on one you like, tap the cell phone icon to save the ringtone to your Windows Phone. You'll have the option of renaming when you save the ringtone.

Pimp my Ringtones has a nice collection of ringtones and hopefully the selection will grow with each update. If you're running Mango on your Windows Phone, you can find Pimp my Ringtonehere (opens Zune) at the Marketplace for $.99.

We reported sitings of a new update that has surfaced that is designed to clean up Windows Phones running the Mango Beta so that such devices can recieve updates from Micrsoft. There was speculation that this update will negate the need for such Windows Phone from having to roll back to Nodo before moving forward with Mango.

Brandon Watson has confirmed this belief over on Twitter that puts it out there short and sweet. Those running Mango Beta will not have to roll back to Nodo.

In reading the comments from earlier posts, it doesn't look like the Friends and Family Pre-Cleanup is being circulated just yet. It may be a case that those of us running Mango Beta will see these updates first before hitting the regular RTM update.

This is really good news for those running the Mango Beta, especially if you are amongst the many of us who forgot where that pesky back-up file is.

Update: Watson was asked just a few minutes ago "what about those running leaked RTM versions of Mango?". His response, "It's unsupported and I don't want to make any claims/statements about what will happen."

Conor Pierce, general manager for the UK and Ireland at Nokia, has said that their first Windows Phone handset is "absolutely stunning" in an interview with Pocket-lint.

"To the partners we have shown the device to, their words, not necessarily mine - although I agree - upon showing it to them. It's spontaneous and unprompted. They say ‘the first Nokia Windows Phone is absolutely stunning’ and that’s die hard gurus in this business, who have thick skin. For them to say that spontaneously without any sales pitch shows what we are bringing is pretty spectacular. And that’s only the beginning."

Pierce went onto say that he has the device on him right this moment but is not able to show us what we're soon to be expecting. He mentions that this device is the success that Nokia so desperately needs and Windows Phone is the right choice for the company.

"Nokia has made a decision to play hard on Windows Phone. That is our primary operating system. The scale and quality that we will bring to the WP7 ecosystem is unique. We aren’t dividing our time with other platforms. We will deliver a very superior smartphone, a very different experience."

While we're all excited to see what Nokia brings to the table, it should be an interesting end of the year to say the least. Nokia World looks to be the event where the handset will be unveiled and Microsoft is certainly not to be absent when the fireworks are released.

The Guardian, my personal favourite British newspaper, has released a superb looking Mango app for Windows Phone. Making good use of the Metro UI, which fits in nicely with the design of The Guardian website, users will be able to read stories, view videos and galleries to stay up-to-date with latest news across a variety of topics.

If you're a fan of The Guardian and/or The Observer, then this app is a must have. Best of all, it's free! Some highlighted features:

Everyone is anticipating that the Windows Phone Mango update will begin rolling out this week. We are now seeing yet another indicator to support that thought, the Mango Friends and Family Bundle: Pre-Clean update.

The update appears to be a two step process that will clean up any phones running the Mango Beta. According to the screen description,

This is the first of two updates which will clean up any Beta update provisioning on your phone so that it can begin receiving updates from production Microsoft Update servers.

It is believed that these updates will negate the need to roll those devices running the Mango Beta back to Nodo before they can receive the official Mango update. If this is true, that will be a good news for those running the Beta. We aren't sure who is seeing this update but if you are, let us know in the comments.

As we learn more on this Mango Friends and Family Bundle, we'll pass it on.

Samsung has announced the Omnia W, the Omnia 7 successor, and it's set to sport a 3.7" Super AMOLED screen, 1.4Ghz processor and a 5MP rear camera (with FF VGA camera). We previously caught a brief overlook of the specifications from SamFirmware and they stated that the handset will be available at stores in October starting with Italy and advancing through Europe.

What's yet to be decided is how Samsung will price the device, probably aiming to battle with the HTC Radar. The Omnia W will be powering Windows Phone Mango. Check out the full specification chart after the break.

One of the nice new features heading to your Windows Phone with the Mango update is the enhanced live tiles. My Live Tile is a Mango App the allows you to create your own double sided tile plus four additional secondary tiles.

My Live Tile's interface is simple and straight forward. You first create the primary tile by adding photos and text. You can then create up to four additional tiles in the same manner. Once created, pin the app to your Start Screen and your done.

The nice thing about My Live Tile is that it saves the tiles so you can go back to the app and edit them as needed. Another nice thing about My Live Tile is that it's a free app.

If you're running Mango, you can find My Live Tilehere (opens Zune) at the Marketplace.

This is hands down going to be one of the biggest weeks for Microsoft and Windows Phone with official Mango updates rolling out worldwide.

One country we haven't heard much from has been Italy, but it looks like they're in luck too. On September 29th, Microsoft Italy will be hosting a presentation event to demo off Mango's new features, possibly those new HTC phones and hopefully get some much needed positive media coverage.

The event will be held at Casa Kinect at Officine Stendha in Milan at 5:30pm, invite only.

We now have WhatsApp on the Marketplace for Mango users as of yesterday, which turned out to be relatively bare in terms of features, but functionality is present. We've now caught word of Simon Luk from WeLoveWP.hk contacting the developers asking whether or not more functionality will be implemented in the future.

In the above image we see Jan Koum from WhatsApp stating that the team is "committed very strongly" to Windows Phone and will be adding many features as well as fixing reported bugs. So sit tight with what we have thus far, the future is looking bright for WhatsApp.

We recently caught wind of Deutsche Telekom's plan to roll out Mango to HTC devices beginning next week and later cover Samsung handsets. Chip.de now reports that the German-based operator is looking to kick start the process as early as Monday, September 26th.

Hopefully more details surrounding the Samsung wave of the roll out will be released sometime soon.

We published an article covering a potential release of WhatsApp for Windows Phone within 24 hours and here we are, announcing the availability. Be sure to check out the video review of the beta for WhatsApp. If you're not familiar with the name, it's a major cross-platform IM client.

One can download WhatsApp from the Marketplace, but keep in mind the app requires Mango.

We've heard of a few sightings of a Sprint HTC Arrive running Mango and now one has been captured on film. WPCentral forum regular Coolaaron88 was in his local Sprint Store out in Vegas and stumbled upon the HTC Arrive running OS Version 7.10.7720.68.

We haven't heard anything official or unofficial from Sprint and finding the Arrive running Mango doesn't guarantee an impending release. As with the Verizon Trophy being spotted in the wild running Mango, we like the odds that Sprint will join the Mango crowd sooner than later.

I'm sure by now the Customer Reps for wireless carriers that offer Windows Phones are up to their eyeballs with online questions about the Mango update. While it's not definitive proof on when Mango will hit the update airwaves, such conversations can serve as indicators of what might happen.

This go around, it's Bell Canada's turn in the spotlight. The question was presented to a Bell Canada Customer Service Rep, "Will Bell be rolling out the Mango update on September 27th, like all the other major carriers?".

While the CSR politely replies that Bell doesn't have an announced date for the update, it probably will come out on September 27th.

So take it for what it is worth. Bell Canada (who offers the HTC HD7 and LG Optimus) may be joining the other carriers rumoured to be releasing Mango on the world next Tuesday, September 27th. Luckily, we won't have long to wait until we know for sure if all the online Customer Service Reps are right.

After Microsoft's announcement that Mango updates would roll out "in coming weeks" and AT&T's confirmation that they would begin on September 27th, one of our faithful readers decided to take it upon himself to try to find out when exactly Verizon was planning to send out their updates.

He poked around the Verizon Wireless site, when suddenly he was prompted to join a live chat with a representative. Through a clever bit of social engineering (AKA, directly asking the rep if Verizon's Mango update would roll out the same day that other major carriers' would) he was told that it would indeed be available on September 27th.

There are a couple of other interesting points in this conversation. Firstly, the representative says that regardless of whether the phone is purchased now, or post-Mango roll out, the software will be the same. So it sounds like Trophies will come pre-loaded with Mango. Secondly, when asked about other Windows Phone devices on the horizon, the customer support rep states that no information has been given out. Hopefully, this is just a matter of timing and not a sign that the Trophy will be Verizon's sole WP7 offering.

You can see the relevant part of the chat log above. Names have been redacted, as to not get anyone fired. Now, customer support reps have been known to be wrong in the past, so don't take any of this as gospel truth.

We are also seeing Mango referenced in Verizon's support pages on updating the HTC Trophy. Not only can you download a .pdf on the benefits of updating to Mango but also the instructions on how to go about updating your Trophy.

Clarification: Where the CSR informs our reader that whether the phone is purchased now or after the Mango roll out, the software will be the same, the CSR is referring to the update itself. While we could see Trophy's shipped with Mango eventually, the CSR meant the software update will be the same for existing phones and those currently in inventory.

And yes, CSR talk can be confusing and designed to make the sale. Hence the caveat to not take any of this as gospel. It is simply an indicator that September 27th might be Mango Day for Verizon customers.

The above chart certainly paints an interesting picture about usage within IE on Windows Phone. Back at MIX'11 when we managed to get a demonstration by Joe Marini of IE9, the excitement began of a chrome-less browsing experience. Moving onto later previews and in-depth looks at what's changed in the browser, many began to question the move to take away the status bar and hide the tabs and featured sites. One of the major complaints about the new IE on Windows Phone though is the missing "Find on Page" feature.

Amin Lakhani has published an insightful article over at the Windows Phone Developer blog, which runs us through the reasoning behind the changes that have been made. Looking back at the chart above, it's clear to see that the majority of users neglect the tabs and favourites features in favour of the address bar (myself being one). It's all about gaining as much screen as possible from chrome and using it for content display, to tie in with the whole concept of Metro, Microsoft has actually done this rather well.

Not everyone is going to agree with changes made as not everyone uses the web in the same way. A user may see IE9 on Windows Phone as a tool for light browsing, should he wish to have multiple tabs active at once he may favour a laptop, desktop or tablet. It's good to disagree with the approach taken, but without an alternative there's little anyone can do. One thing's for sure, it's depressing to see the team boast about having HTML5 with Youtube. Surely we should only rejoice when the monopolistic search engine giant agrees to allow Microsoft to pull down Youtube content via the app?

There are those who remain skeptical about AT&T and the upcoming update that looms over the community on Windows Phone. Hopefully the above conversation could possibly shed light on lessons being learned from NoDo problems - here's one of our experiences with updating.

While the representative couldn't provide our reader with confirmation if Mango would be rolled out by the end of September, he was told that it could be within the next week. We'll cross our toes and fingers that the rep is correct.

Here's a tip that might spark some interest in the HTC Titan fans in the house. MyTrendyPhone.com, a European electronics website, has the HTC Titan (Black) listed for 646.10 Euros (about $870 US).

While the price tag will make you pause, what makes you pause even further is that the website is showing the Titan in stock and ready to ship. As I'm writing this post, if I place my order within the next 4 hours and 40 some odd minutes, the Titan will be dispatched today.

With the HTC Titan, everything we have heard pointed to a release in early October. Is it too far of a stretch to believe that someone already has the Titan in stock now? If you happen to take the plunge and add the Titan to your cart, let us know how it goes.

While a leaked Orange memo made the 15th of September "Mango Day", we later realised that this had been pushed back a few more weeks. Here we are at the end of September and the France-based carrier has announced that testing of the update has completed and they will be rolling out Mango in a week or two.

Dell has finally released some information about the upcoming Windows Phone Mango update and their Venue Pro. In a nut shell all unlocked handsets (in supported countries) will be updated when the roll-out begins and those with T-Mobile and Cincinnati Bell SIM-locked units will also be supported.

There's no word on AT&T SIM-locked while plans are still being finalised, hopefully more details will be released sooner rather than later. Keep tight everyone.